Curtain Call
by An Cathal Toirmisce
Summary: Modern Day; AU. From auditions to final curtain call, follow Lucy, Susan, Peter, and Edmund on their experiences in their school's play. From rumors backstage, to forgetting lines, it's all part of the experience. Lucy/Edmund Susan/Peter Eternal hiatus!
1. Chapter 1

**A/N: I created the play that they're putting on in this, if your smart, you'll see where I got the character names. It's pretty obvious.**

**Again, it's an Ed/Lu modern day story with a Pete/Su subplot, what can I say? I'm a girl possessed with plot bunnies. **

**No one is at all related to anyone in this. I'm sure you're smart enough to figure that out on your own, but I felt the need to say it.**

**I don't own Narnia, or it's characters. **

**Curtain Call **

**_Chapter One_ **

Hearts beating outside chests, nervous trembling, fears of stuttering. These are worries known so well only to two sets of people; people about to propose marriage, and people involved in the theater.

Once involved in the intoxicating world of hot lights, heavy makeup, adrenaline, memorization, and precision it's hard to pull away from it, from all the anxiety. It's an incredible high that last longer than most drugs, without all the repercussions.

As most people involved in theater know, the auditions are often the most trying part of being involved. Waiting for over an hour, sitting in the dusty theater seats, watching people with either amazing talent, or none at all, getting up on that large stage and strutting their stuff. Each one making your incredibly nervous, even if they completely blew it, you're left with a feeling of nausea after each one.

Lucy waited her turn to audition, terribly nervous, this was her first year in the drama department and she hadn't gotten a part in the fall play, not that she minded, she liked being stage crew, but she'd like to get a change to see what it's like standing up on that stage, hundreds of people watching, the hot lights beating down on her.

The confident tenth year audition for the female lead was intimidating her. She was good; there was no doubt about that.

Good, even if a little awkward, Lucy thought, blowing a piece of reddish bang out of her face. She played with the dusty blue curtains by the front of the stage with her left hand, getting sick to her stomach. In her right hand, she had a piece of white paper that read the parts she wanted (she said any female role), what other plays she's been in (just the Christmas pageant at her church), and if she'd be willing to work behind the sets if she didn't get a part (the answer to that was yes)

"Thank you, Lasaralaeen." Mr. Tumnus—the drama instructor—said, when the tenth year was through, and instructed her to leave stage left.

Lucy slowly walked up on the stage, each step of her flip-flop clad feet made a loud smacking noise on the wooden stage, handed her paper to Mr. Tumnus. One of her friends in the audience called out, "Whoo! Go Lucy!"

Mr. Tumnus said, "Ready? Do Anna's monologue on page thirty-five." He waited for Lucy to turn to the page before saying, "Go."

She began reciting the scene, looking down occasionally to see what the lines were; she thought it went rather well. She was loud enough, slow enough, and she felt that the acting was fair. It looked as if she had a chance at getting the part, by the look on Mr. Tumnus' face. He looked pleasantly surprised, and well, that was good, wasn't it?

Once the monologue was over, she was directed to leave stage left, where she met her friend Marjorie Preston, who was auditioning for a different part and didn't have to go up on the stage quite yet, "You did wonderfully, Luce." She said eyes beginning to drift behind Lucy's head, "You're definitely getting the part."

"What are you staring…ahh!" She felt fingers dig into her sides, sending the jump reflex there, turning around she swatted at the cause, "Ed!" she half laughed, have shrieked, "You know I don't like jumper cables."

Her brown-eyed friend raised an eyebrow in a mock fashion, "You don't like jumper cables? This is new to me, isn't it new to you, Marjorie?"

Marjorie held out both hands, palms out, "Hey, I don't get involved when you guys banter. You know that."

"We banter?" Edmund said again, "I thought we joked around." Sobering up he said, "You really did do a good job."

A few more moments exchanged, and Edmund left, to prepare for his own audition, leaving Marjorie and Lucy to walk up the rows of dusty, blue auditorium seats to meet their other friend, Aravis.

Aravis wasn't in the drama department, and was only at the auditions because her friends were, and she had nothing better to do, she was busy with a notebook and an orange pen, but seeing Lucy sit down next to her, she mumbled, "G'job, Lucy." Before turning back to her paper.

A few more, not so impressive, auditions for the lead role went, before Mr. Tumnus, scratching the bridge of his nose called out, "All right. That's it for Anna…unless we've got any last minute auditionees?"

"Wait!" A loud voice yelled, from the doorway, running down the isle was a beautiful brunette girl, Lucy knew who she was, she was on the girl's football and archery teams, and her name was Susan Gentles. "Am I late?" she said, once she got to Mr. Tumnus' table. "I can still audition, right?"

Fiddling with all the papers, he handed a blank one to Susan, "Yes, do you want to audition for the role of Anna, or something else?"

"Anna, I guess." she said, she was panting a bit, and her face was flushed. It looked as if she had run halfway across campus to make it to the auditorium.

The drama instructor nodded, then said, "All right, take the book on the corner of stage right, do Anna's monologue on page thirty-five. Then, when you're finished, fill out the paper I just gave to you and put it in the pile of the other Anna auditions."

Susan nodded, and took to the stage. For someone who wasn't in the drama department, she looked weirdly comfortable on the stage. She wasn't standing on the stage; she wore it, like a blouse that fit at every curve, figuratively, of course.

Added to that, she even looked like the way they described Anna in the character listings, beautiful, tired, and worn-out. Wisps of brunette hair fell out of the ponytail that flew out of the back of her head like a waterfall, and played around her face. Her acting was shockingly good, too. It didn't seem forced, like so many others at the auditions, it seemed true and honest.

Lucy wasn't aware of it, but her jaw dropped slightly at this audition. It was obvious that Susan was perfect for the role, but, for the sake of politics, would Mr. Tumnus give such a big role to someone outside of the department?

"Thank you, Ms. Gentles," Mr. Tumnus said to her, directing her off the stage with his hand, a blond upperclassman in one of the seats stood up and gave Susan a round of applause, she winked at him with shimmering blue eyes and took a seat to watch the rest of the auditions from the front row.

Marjorie put a hand on Lucy's arm, "You might still get the part, you never know."

Aravis had looked up from her notebook to see the last minute audition and muttered, "It might be more realistic to shoot for understudy."

So even they saw how good that girl was.

* * *

"All right." Mr. Tumnus projected through out the auditorium, it amazed most of the students that he never had to use a microphone, "Do we have any auditions for the role of William?"

A group of boys trudged on to the stage, to wait their turn to audition. Like the girls, they had a few knockouts, a few people who did all right, and a few people who did horrendously. The boy who gave Susan a standing ovation (his name turned out to be Peter) was one of those in the knockout group. One of those people who did horrendously was Lucy's cousin, Eustace.

Auditions for this role took less time than the one for Anna did; it was a shame that they didn't have as many boys in the drama department,

Mr. Tumnus spoke up again, calling the name for the next audition, "Georgie?" Perhaps one or two girls went up to audition for this particular role, she was only in, perhaps, a third of the scenes. A 'character part' for sure, one that would be fun to play, but the drama department at Lewis Secondary School was extremely competitive with the casting, especially when it came to the girls. They all wanted the female lead; very few people wanted any other part.

"Skandar?" Tumnus called out, clear and strong.

Several boys went up for the audition of this role. The character of Skandar was meant to be awkward and geeky, one of those roles that people play just for the fun of it.

Unfortunately, that meant that mostly people who weren't going to take the play seriously were auditioning for it. The only boy who did remotely well was Edmund, Lucy didn't just think that because they were friends, she truly thought that. He definitely had the whole geek thing down, if not the awkwardness, talking through his nose and sticking his upper jaw out in a mock overbite.

Several more auditions whizzed by, for other roles, like the other librarian, the girl at the diner, the police officer, the judge and Lucy took little notice of those, other than when Marjorie went up. Other than that, it was simply watching the second hand on the clock tick away quietly, and the minute hand creep along.

"That concludes the auditions for today." Mr. Tumnus called after auditions were over, looking at the large clock, "If you didn't get your chance today, you'll have to audition tomorrow, results will be up by Friday."

* * *

Lucy lived in a small dormitory with Marjorie and Aravis; being eighth years they didn't yet have the privilege of larger, more comfortable housing, but their dormitory was pleasant. Marjorie had decorated it with colorful framed pictures and fuzzy rugs. Lucy had brought the small television from her bedroom back home, so they had something to do whilst lounging in Marjorie's neon beanbag chairs. Aravis contributed to the dormitory by making it look lived in; she was the one girl who didn't make her bed every morning, and all the time the floor had several footballs and kneepads strewn across the floor.

Lucy didn't say anything, twisting her room key in it's lock, stepping into the room, what she did do, was let her legs fall out from under her as she collapsed on her bed. Mumbling something about, "So…tired…exam tomorrow."

Marjorie and Aravis exchanged looks, Lucy always got like that after an audition, the stress really got to their young redheaded roommate. Aravis shrugged, knowing that it would blow over by Friday, and climbed the ladder to her bed, on the top bunk.

That night, Lucy dreamed of the heat of stage lights, of performing, of the rush of applause. Of being a part of what was going on up front. She also dreamed of forgetting lines, being onstage naked, and not getting a part at all.

**A/N: So…should I finish it?**


	2. Chapter 2

**A/N: I mentioned Shrek: The Musical in this chapter, I was listening to my CD while typing this up.**

**Peter's surname is lame, yes, I know that. I couldn't think of anything else.**

**Chapter Two**

Despite the idea you may have gotten about kids in the drama department; not everyone that auditioned got as uneasy as Lucy.

Edmund, for example, was completely calm about it. Life went on for him as normal, he'd procrastinate on homework as much as possible, avoid his roommate's "brotherly arguments" when they got bloody, and practice his other hobby, fencing.

He didn't care if he got a part in the play, being in the plays wasn't the reason he joined the drama department. He did have a reason, though. His reason had long red hair and dark blue eyes.

He was walking through the grounds, near the football pitch, ipod in his ears. He used to listen to his music as loud as it could go, so that people standing next to him could hear clearly, but he didn't do that anymore. The music he had recently gotten into became his guilty pleasure, proving that drama really did have an impact on him, Broadway music. He was currently listening to an upbeat song from the American recording of _Shrek: The Musical _

His eyes drew to a familiar girl on the pitch, it was odd, just seeing one person on the pitch, opposed to the huge teams that were often occupying it. Pressing his ipod off, he entered the fenced in pitch, watching her.

She was dribbled the traditional black and white football between her two feet. Flicking them up onto her knees, bouncing it once, twice, and thrice. She was wearing normal football shorts, accompanied with a modest green tank top. Her red hair put up into a ratty ponytail that flew with the breeze, flowing with the turns to her body as she chased the football.

"Oi, Pevensie!" he called, seeing Lucy turn towards him, smile, and jog towards him, he smiled himself, "Why are you out here all alone?"

"Marjorie and Aravis said I was getting too insane, so they kicked me out and told me not to come back until I'm feeling 'better'…wanna play?"

"Sure." He smiled, and they began a game of one-on-one football, under the control of both Lucy's and Edmund's feet. Dribbling, and stealing the ball, it was a hot pursuit for each. Sweat gathering on their backs making them sticky, their shirts sticking to their backs as they continued the game.

They played for a long time, even when large dark gray clouds gathered over the sky, giving the once sunny pitch a cloudy, overcast look.

They didn't even notice, keeping their game up, when it started raining. Water poured over their heads, and cooled the sweat on their bodies, but causing their clothes to stick to them further, and their hair down flat on their heads and (in Lucy's case) down their necks and back. Gooseflesh appeared prickly on their wet arms.

They continued running up and down the pitch, getting mud all over their shoes and shins, breathing heavily.

"Game over." Edmund called, panting, he had never played a two-hour one-on-one game of football before, and was extremely tired.

Lucy nodded, also panting, "Let's get out of this rain."

Normally, when trying to get out of the rain people run, as if that would stop them from getting as wet, but Edmund and Lucy walked slowly, sharing the walk quietly. Listening to their heavy breathing, the rain splatter on the pavement, people shriek as they dash to get out of the rain, and birds squawk loudly, enjoying the downpour.

They entered the girl's housing building, sopping, but no longer panting. "Hey, guys." Lucy said to all of the unwavering eyes staring at the pair. "Could anyone get us some towels?"

A girl named Jill Pole slowly got up from her place on the purple couch and stepped into the laundry area and came back, "Here." She said, staring between the two.

"Why is everyone staring at us?" Edmund loudly whispered to Lucy so that everyone could hear, some looked away, others remained staring.

"Because we're wet," Lucy replied in the same loud whisper ringing her hair out with the towel, "and we walked in."

"Well they should stop. It's giving me the heebie-jeebies." After this, most of the girls looked away, and if they didn't Edmund and Lucy didn't notice, they had moved to the hard floor recreation area to dry off without harming the carpet.

Once they were as dry as they possibly could be they mumbled their good-nights.

"Well…see you tomorrow, I guess." Edmund said, scratching the back of his neck.

"Yeah," Lucy said, thinking, _well, this is surprisingly awkward. _"Um…I guess I'll call you…" surprised by her own words, she flushed, "Or not. Y'know, whatever happens."

He laughed a little, aware of a few nosy eyes still on the duo, "Yeah. See ya, Lucy." He said before leaving, thinking, _why the heck were people watching us? _

* * *

Peter MacGnificent found himself oddly excited for Friday, he didn't even know why. Yes, he was in the drama department, but he never got that excited for the plays as he had gotten.

Maybe it was because he was confident in the idea of getting the role of William? No, that couldn't be it, Peter didn't get confident like that. He couldn't quite get it through, but he found himself disappointed that it was only Tuesday.

He lived in one of the nicer buildings with the other eleventh year boys, his dormitory was bigger, with two single beds, and an old blue rug covered the wooden floors. It wasn't very carefully decorated other than the large flatscreen television on one of the walls—Peter and Caspian had to do a lot of overtime a McDonalds to afford it, and, therefore, was the most important thing in their dormitory.

His roommate, a tall and dark boy named Caspian, entered, holding a letter, he sighed loudly, "My aunt had her baby." He mumbled.

"That's cool, Peter said, "he can be like a little brother." Peter always wanted a big family, but his parents were adamant at not giving him a little brother or sister. When he came to Lewis Secondary School, he was excited to get roommates, hoping they could become like brothers to him.

Caspian raised an eyebrow, "You really don't know my uncle, do you?"

Peter knew Caspian's story; his aunt and uncle moved into his father's estate after his untimely death. Caspian suspected that the only reason his uncle Miraz moved in was to get the money, guardianship over Caspian was a part of taking the money. So, his uncle took no time at all to enroll his nephew into a boarding school as far away as he could think of. Peter just shrugged, "True."

They sat around for awhile before flicking on the television and began watching _Britain's Got Talent _

* * *

The night after auditions, Susan rented the book that the play was based on from the library. The dark hardcover book was a deep maroon with golden binding, on the inside cover there was an inked picture of an old and large wardrobe, door ajar, letting out a stream of light. The pages were heavy and yellow, lettering small, black and fancy. With her long, pale fingers, Susan outlined the title lightly, barely touching the coarse parchment.

Spare Room was a very gripping story, a murder mystery about a morally distraught girl named Anna who was wrongfully accused of murdering her employer, Benjamin. Her only alibi the old cherry wood wardrobe in the back of the old spare room.

Anna's lawyer was the charismatic hero, William, who had doubted her innocence from square one. There was this really intense scene between Anna and William, right before her trial, when Anna basically stripped him from believing that he was a good lawyer.

Susan practiced that scene, saying aloud, "If my own defense attorney doesn't believe that I'm innocent, how in the hell can I expect anyone else to?"

It wasn't all serious, though. Most of the comic relief rested with Anna's best friend, the awkward and geeky Skandar, who often tripped (he was the one who discovered the passageway in the back of the wardrobe from tripping into it) over people, landing in the most absurd ways. The comedy in the novel ranged from innocent yarns, to accidental lewd innuendo, mostly coming from the scenes between Skandar and the equally geeky librarian, Georgie.

She flipped through the pages with extreme exuberance, every step of the way; she had become the heroine slowly walking down the hallways of the giant mansion, the poker from the fireplace her only weapon, the fierce knowledge to not trust anyone contradicting with her fondness of the others. She had stepped into the diner, and felt the crawling feeling that you get when everyone looks at you, and you know that they've been talking about you. Susan herself had experienced that before and could find a relation to Anna.

With each page turned, Susan had felt the uncanny need to both laugh and cry out in fear for the characters, which were so brilliantly written you came to know like your brothers and sisters.

With two pages to go, the sun peeking up over the horizon, she found that she had drifted to a light, hazy, sleep. She woke up from her mobile phone riled to life, vibrating violently.

Starting awake, Susan sighed, frightened, at her phone. She threw a white pillow at it, where it continued vibrating for a moment, before subsiding.

"Why me?" she groaned, covering her head with her other pillow.

* * *

As far as the drama department was concerned, Friday didn't come soon enough.

For some, such as Lucy, each day was like a month of waiting. For others, like Edmund, it was a simple week, nothing to worry about.

Still, even those people's stomachs turned taut and twisted into knots when they saw the long white piece of paper with the casting list neatly handwritten in cursive.

A pool of people crowded around that paper, pushing and shoving to see what part they got. It was a crowded wave of colorful shirts, disappointment and delight spun through the pool, like an undertow.

Not seeing her name on the top part of the list, Lasaralaeen gasped loudly, whining, "I didn't get the part! How can that be possible?" a few moments later, she perked up, "Well, I guess I can run the wardrobe and makeup, since I'll have time!"

Turning to anybody who would hear, Edmund murmured under his breath, "I think she's more dramatic in real life than she is on stage."

The person who did hear happened to be Susan, who smiled and laughed, "Don't most people think that?"

Even though she wasn't shoving for it, Susan quickly found her way to the front. From the bottom up, she scanned the side with the cast names, the longer she had to look the more excited she became. Soon she came to the top of the list where it read; ANNA…SUSAN GENTLES.

Her lips drew up into a beautiful smile, as she yelled, happily, "Yes! I'm Anna!"

A few people applauded to Susan's reaction, but a few girls groaned and shoved even further in, to see what they were scrapped with, wishing that they had tried out for Georgie.

* * *

Lucy hung around the outside of the pool; the suspense was practically killing her. Yet, she didn't want exactly to dive in to the rest of the people, she could wait until they were through to find her name on the neat list.

Marjorie had long since discovered that she had gotten a role as an extra, simple on/off parts throughout the performance, she swore she didn't mind, saying that all the fun happened backstage. Lucy suspected her friend was lying, but she wasn't one to judge.

Edmund came shooting out of the pool shortly after Susan had screamed her role. He saw Lucy, and came galloping in towards her, "What did you get?"

"Don't know yet." She mumbled, scratching the back of her leg with the side of her shoe, "I don't think I really got a part…"

Edmund interrupted her, "I'm not just saying this because I know what you got, but don't sell yourself short. You did really well at the auditions."

"You know? Well…can't you just tell me how I did, then?"

"I _could _but," he smiled, cheekily, "I don't think I will."

Lucy smiled halfway, she didn't understand why Edmund had to get like that around her, he wasn't like that with most of his other friends. His audacity was a novelty that only she got to "enjoy"

Still, she knew why Edmund didn't tell her; there was nothing quite like looking at the cast list the first time, seeing your name in all capitol letters next to a role; even the last time, when all it said next to LUCY PEVENSIE was STAGE CREW

"All right," Lucy said, she began to tremble a small bit; she held out her hand, "Will you?"

"You're kidding, right?" Edmund said, shocked at the girl's gesture.

She shook her head, "No. I'm really nervous."

Being sure to make a show of rolling his eyes, to try and hide his blush, he took his friend's hand. "Please say you won't be this bad on opening night." He said when they walked slowly to the paper.

"No promises." She mumbled, closing her eyes, she inhaled deeply. Then she opened her blue eyes, looking at the casting list.

Edmund watched his friend's face light up, and felt her fingernails dig into his palm.

"I'm in!" she yelled, launching herself in his arms in a quick embrace, wrapping her arms around his neck, "I'm Georgie!"

His hands briefly touched the small of her back, before she jumped down again, "Congrats." He said, a little dazed from the quick embrace.


	3. Chapter 3

**Chapter Three**

"So, what did you get?" Lucy asked, after jumping out of her hug with Edmund, still excited for herself with her own role. She still wanted to know what her friends got; hopefully they would be as ecstatic for themselves as she was for herself.

He shot her a toothy grin, "Skandar," he said, hands in his pockets. He was trying to sound nonchalant, but Lucy could see a glimmer of excitement in his brown eyes.

His big, brown eyes always gave themselves away, and Lucy knew this. She just didn't realize that his eyes gave himself away whenever he was talking to her; she never saw what was hidden beneath the brown when it came to the most obvious emotion he ever gave away.

"That's great!" Lucy said, jumping up on the balls of her feet to give him another swift hug, arms quickly flung around his neck. It was gone so quickly Edmund didn't even have a chance to react, "It's the part you auditioned for, isn't it?"

Edmund was a bit disorientated by the remaining feeling of Lucy's arms around his neck, fading fast. He took a little more time than he probably should have let himself snap back to reality, "Well, there weren't any better parts to audition for, and my competition wasn't all that steep, to be honest."

Lucy rolled her eyes, not meanly, "Pessimist!" she accused, smiling and swatting him lightly in the chest. "I believe your own words were, 'don't sell yourself short. You did really well at the auditions?'"

"That was meant for you!" Edmund said back, enjoying their lighthearted repartee.

"Maybe, but it applies to you too!" she laughed, also enjoying the banter.

They continued to counter each other for a long time, eventually taking to walk around the grounds.

"Well…I'd best be getting back to my dormitory." Lucy said, once they had circled the campus, now standing in front of her housing building, "I've got algebra homework," she made a disgusted face, "hate it, but can't pass without it. So…well, I guess I'll see you tomorrow." She waved, and stepped inside the large, stone building.

* * *

The first rehearsal for Spare Room consisted of Mr. Tumnus speaking on the broad stage about the basic rules of being in the play, "Remember that to take part, you must be passing the term. Also, I know we're in a big area, but it's a bad habit to get into and fairly distracting, so remember; mobile phones must be off at all times."

Most of the students in the blue theater seats already knew all of the rules and, ignoring the no mobiles rule, were rapidly texting their friends.

Mr. Tumnus went on, "If you can't make any practices, make sure that I somehow figure it out; this auditorium is too big for me to look out and take roll call, so, I'll assume that you're all here unless I know otherwise."

Students continued typing away mindlessly on their mobiles, all of this was old news to them. They simply had to wait until something drew their attention.

Then, their attention was drawn when Mr. Tumnus began explaining the theme of the play. Most of the students were intrigued by the idea of performing a murder mystery.

"Added to that," Mr. Tumnus said, "if anyone has read the book, you'll be aware that there is some content in it that it may be a bit questionable." Practically everyone in the seats leaned in; they wanted to hear this, "I bought the most appropriate version that was available, but you will still find some mild language and a few risqué situations. If your character says something that bothers you, tell me why you don't want to say it, and we'll find a way to change the script. Just don't change any lines on your own."

"Speaking of that," Marjorie whispered, leaning in closer to Lucy, holding a script book to a page, "you might wanna see this, Lu."

Somewhat confused, Lucy looked at the page that her friend was pointing at, after reading it, her eyes widened and her jaw hung open. She was going to have to talk with Mr. Tumnus.

* * *

Peter sat in an old, blue auditorium seat, rocking backwards and forwards, feet balanced on the seat in front of him, half listening to Mr. Tumnus drawl the normal things that they all heard before any show. Caspian sat at his side, playing a game of solitaire on his ipod, and quietly humming a nameless tune.

Peter was a bit intrigued with the play having "questionable content." He had never actually read the book, so he wondered what exactly made the content questionable. Would his character, William, have anything like that?

He had read the description in the front of the script before auditions, he seemed to have gotten landed with the most innocent part of the leads; Anna had a dark past, her employer Benjamin was basically a pervert (this was mildly amusing to Peter, since Caspian had gotten that role), Skandar often said lewd things on accident, and Georgie, apparently, had one or two scenes with Skandar that contained the risqué situations. William? Well…his character was a well-rounded, charismatic, if not somewhat stuffy, lawyer fresh out of Oxford.

Reading through the script, the most mature thing he got to say was, "Objection, your Honor, being sexually stimulated wouldn't stop them from hearing a gunshot. Damn it, that's the stupidest thing that Camilla's tried to shove up the jury's asses today."

He figured he'd talk to Mr. Tumnus about that one. Not because it made him feel uncomfortable, he seriously doubted that a lawyer, no matter how young or stressed out, would say something like that in front of a judge.

Out of the corner of his eye, he saw someone take a seat on his other side. He quickly glanced at who was next to him, a beautiful girl with long brown hair, Susan Gentles.

She took a rubber band off of her wrist and tied her hair back into a ponytail, before noticing Peter looking at her, "Erm…" she whispered, looking confused.

"Sorry." Peter looked away, a little embarrassed, he never let himself get caught staring. Well…he never did until that day, of course.

"It doesn't matter," she said, leaning back into the soft material of the seats, "so, you're my lawyer, aren't you?"

Peter laughed, "I guess."

"How much am I paying you?" she asked, looking him up and down breifly.

He shrugged, "I dunno...a few hundred?"

She smiled, and they began a quiet conversation about lawyers, their prices, and the like.

* * *

"Mr. Tumnus?" Lucy came up behind the director, who looked as if he had just finished talking to Edmund, who waved slightly at her.

He held up a finger to her quickly, and finished addressing Edmund; "Until we get closer to Showtime it won't be a problem if you miss practice once a week for your fencing." Then he turned to Lucy, "Yes?"

"Sorry about that," she said, quickly, before holding up the script, "Well, I read the script, and I have a few…problems," she tried to find the correct word, 'problem' didn't even seem accurate, "with one of the scenes in here…"

"Which one?" Mr. Tumnus asked, eyebrows sinking.

She bit her lip and pointed to the page, "Well…in this scene…Edmund's character and I…well, we're supposed to...basically...snog." She paused, thinking about how awkward it was, before blurting, "Is that really necessary?"

"Wow, thanks, Lu." Edmund said, sarcastically, but with a tinge of hurt in his voice, "Glad to know that the idea of kissing me seems 'unnecessary' to you."

"Oh, it's not that," Lucy tried to explain herself; she didn't want to have to kiss Edmund. She had never been kissed before and didn't want her first kiss to be for a school play, "It's just that…"

Mr. Tumnus spoke up, seeing the girl had run out of words, "Well, yes, it is rather necessary. See, Lucy, what's happening in that scene is that you're about to be interrogated by William, and you need a reason to get jumpy…the whole of the scene also goes along with comic relief." He smiled sympathetically, seeing the uncomfortable look on the girl's face, "Even though we're not cutting that part of the scene, you two can just do a pseudo stage kiss. No one would be able to tell from the audience, when we're working on blocking, remind me though. Is that all right with the two of you?"

They looked at each other, and then nodded. Lucy was relieved, but Edmund was disappointed, and somewhat insulted. What was so bad about kissing him, anyway?

**_A/N: Hmph, this was too short. I'm so sorry. I wrote, like, three versions of this, each one only reaching three pages. I'll try to update quickly to make up for it. _**


	4. Chapter 4

**I don't own Narnia**

**Chapter Four**

Lucy dropped her book bag in an empty seat in the big auditorium to wait for rehearsal. She pulled out a large textbook that read, '_Algebra 1' _

Groaning inwardly, she opened the textbook to the page where her class had been assigned homework, only to be immediately baffled by an array of numbers and letters. This was math? She wished it were the good old days, when letters were strictly for English class, and numbers strictly for the math.

"All right Luce," she muttered to herself, "here we go." She struggled to find the value of said exponent here, the value of said variable there. Pushing her red bangs away from her forehead, she blew out an aggravated sigh. She normally was able to maintain grades in the rough 60's and 70's area, but Algebra threw her off.

"Mind if I keep my things by you?" A voice said, spooking Lucy, looking up she saw the voice was coming from a blonde kid, Peter Mac…something. She didn't know his surname.

Lucy shrugged and turned back to her textbook, "Sure."

Peter dropped his book bag in the seat with Lucy's; looking at her textbook, "What are you working on in Algebra?" the upperclassmen asked, remembering that he had enjoyed his own algebra class when he was an eighth year.

Once again running her eraser across the white paper, Lucy muttered, "Polynomials." She wrote down some numerals, before checking them and letting out an exasperated sigh. "I don't get this!"

"Here…can I help you?" he asked, Lucy nodded, and he began to write on her paper, a bunch of numerals and variables, explaining himself along the way, "You multiply the first set first, like this…and then the outside set…inside set next…followed by the last one. And there you go. Do you understand now?"

Lucy shook her head, "Sorry." She said, Peter helped Lucy with the next few problems, this time making her write them but walking through each one with her.

Finally, after ten problems, Lucy said, "I get it! I actually get it!"

Peter smiled at the girl, "You just over think it. It's actually really simple if you just take it all in little by little."

"Well, thanks, Peter." Lucy said, placing her textbook into her own book bag, "It really helped to have someone walk me through it all."

They continued to have a brief conversation about schoolwork and other things. He didn't know it at the time, but by the time rehearsal was called to begin, Peter had found the equivalent to the little sister he'd always wanted.

* * *

The second rehearsal wound by rather quickly, Mr. Tumnus put chairs in a circle on the stage, and the entire main cast just went through the lines to get familiar with the script. Several low sniggers slithered out from the cast, as well as some rather blunt laughter at the actor's shocks or just at something funny in the script.

"That's why we're doing this," Mr. Tumnus explained, "to get the giggles out before we start with the blocking."

They went on working through the lines, repeating some that were too quick or too slurred. When they finished going through the lines, Mr. Tumnus asked the cast, "All right, any comments, questions?"

Lucy's cousin, Eustace Scrubb, shot his hand up in the air, "I have a question. Isn't it illogical to end it without finding out exactly who killed Benjamin for sure? It's a crummy ending." The people who knew Eustace very well, there were few who did, knew that he was mostly pouting about getting the part of the bailiff, who had a total of three lines, and had to sit around in black with sweltering stage lights on him for more than half of the play.

Peter answered the question for Mr. Tumnus, "I wouldn't say it's a crummy ending. It lets the watcher decide who killed him."

They went on, with a few more questions about the script or the way to say things, before practice was over, and they were excused.

Lucy piled her script into her denim over-the-shoulder book bag, over all her notebooks, and textbooks. Her thin silver mobile fell on the ground.

Edmund nonchalantly walked up to Lucy, "Wanna stop at Starbucks on the way back?" he said, picking her mobile up and offering it back to her.

"I'd like to," Lucy said, strapping her denim book bag over her shoulder, the idea of a creamy chilled mocha with spinning whipped cream and a thin line of chocolate swirling over it was making her very thirsty. "But, I've got homework." She took her mobile back and stuffed it into her book bag.

"Again?" Edmund said, raising an eyebrow, "You sure? I don't remember that much work when I was an eighth year."

"Yeah?" Lucy asked, a bit curiously, reading him like a book. Shifting all her weight to one leg she asked, "You don't think I'm lying, do you?" She was a naturally truthful person, and almost hated it when people assumed she was lying when she wasn't.

Edmund shrugged, looking at his feet, fighting the urge to just burst out, 'Why don't you want to kiss me?' he slowly muttered, "It seems like you're avoiding me, is all."

She had to fight down a tint of pink appearing on her cheeks, Edmund had been acting weird since first rehearsal, and Lucy figured that he was angry with her for whatever reason. So, yes, she had been distancing herself from him, but she figured that he was upset, and she didn't want to get into a fight with her friend, "What do you mean by that?" she asked.

Edmund shrugged, looking at his feet as if they were the most interesting things on the planet, "Well, ever since first rehearsal, I haven't seen you around much. Or when I see you around, you don't notice me and seem to haul yourself out of the way really quickly."

Now it was Lucy's turn to look at her feet and shrug, "I'm sorry." She said, quietly.

"Well, you think you could spare ten minutes or so to make me feel better and," he used the geeky voice he used while reciting his lines, "to build my _self-_esteem, by having one little coffee with me?"

Lucy laughed and nodded, the idea of the mocha sounding better by the second. "Sure." She said, smiling.

They walked side-by-side to the Starbucks, listening to the last strands of students, riding their bikes back to their dormitories, going out on nervous dates, playing football much like Lucy herself and Edmund had done, and the other normal things that students do before nightfall.

Coming into the little Starbucks café, it was a very cozy and dimly lit café, some couples came there to snog if they could get away with not having a teacher run into them. Easy listening music came through speakers at the corner where the walls and ceiling met. The colors were a play on browns, a deep, dirt like color made up the carpet, the walls were a pleasant and sweet caramel color, and the ceiling was a pale and light brown. Little tables, chairs, and booths made up much of the café, as well as a small corner with a couch and a television, where, as always some football match was showing.

They ordered their coffees and took a seat in a corner, where a small, but high table on long legs stood. Hoisting herself up onto one of the seats, Lucy twisted on the cushion which, surprisingly enough, swiveled.

Edmund jokingly called her a wimp for ordering the plain iced mocha, to which Lucy teased in rebuttal, "Because a caramel latte is so much more masculine?"

They went on joking, debating the attributes to different kinds of coffee, and sipping their drinks for longer time than Lucy had anticipated. They would have gone on doing that into the night, if one of the employees hadn't come up and told them, "We're closing up for the night. We're going to have to ask you to leave."

* * *

Lucy returned to her dormitory that night, a bit caffeine-high, if nothing else. "So," Marjorie had asked, when her friend entered the room, "how was practice?"

Lucy explained to Marjorie and Aravis (who didn't seem all that interested, but listened anyway) what they did at practice, and that she and Edmund went and got Starbucks on the way back.

"You should've brought us something." Aravis mumbled, not really listening, sending a crooked smile into her mobile phone, as she began typing something into it.

"If I have the money, I'll be sure to remember that you suddenly like coffee." Lucy smiled at her foreign roommate, knowing that Aravis wasn't really paying attention, and that she thought coffee was absolutely disgusting.

"What?" Aravis asked, now her attention suddenly much better.

"Never mind," Lucy said, a small smile on her lips. Turning to her other friend, she said, "You're quiet, Mar. Anything that matter?"

Marjorie had been laying in a bright yellow beanbag chair, playing a game of paddleball, and looking rather down, "Nothing really." She said, crossing her legs.

Lucy furrowed her eyebrows, she supposed that Marjorie was a little upset about not getting a part, or perhaps her friend failed a test or something? She had a few guesses, but nothing that seemed all that likely.

After a few more minutes of talking (Aravis described her day, football practice, evil teachers, the normal) the girls decided to turn out the lights and go to sleep.

Lucy lay in her bed, waiting for sleep to eventually take over. Perhaps it was her previous caffeine-intake, but sleep didn't come for a long time. She lay in her bed, feeling the soft blankets over her legs, running a hand across the pillowcase.

* * *

After the classes of the day were over, Lucy walked briskly down to the auditorium before practice. Once there, she met up with Peter, who would help her with her algebra. Afterward, Mr. Tumnus would enter the auditorium, a pink umbrella in hand, and a red scarf draped around his shoulder.

Then practice began; ran through the play once, just running through lines, by now everyone was familiar with the script and the "questionable content" was no longer a shock, though some chuckles still escaped certain students.

After they had finished the run-through, Mr. Tumnus stood up, "All right. I want to get some blocking done today. Let's see…would everybody except for Lucy and Edmund clear the stage?" once the stage was empty, Mr. Tumnus addressed them, "You two still want to learn that stage kiss?"

Edmund murmured, "Yeah, yeah." As Lucy nodded, and stood up, pulling on the lacey hem of her shirt.

Lucy picked up on the blocking for that scene rather quickly, it was rather simple, she'd walk across the stage, with Edmund at her heels, before he flips he against the desk and then she's sitting on it.

The "stage kiss" was rather simple. Edmund would have his back completely turned to the audience, and Lucy would hide hers closely behind his. She would wrap her arms around his neck to add to the effect.

"Let's go over that scene, shall we?" Mr. Tumnus asked, "All right, Peter we need you stage left. Susan, Lucy, and Edmund stage right."

Nodding, Edmund and Lucy took to stage right, meeting up with Susan, who was laughing about something with Caspian.

"Begin." Mr. Tumnus's voice boomed through the auditorium, and Lucy walked quickly to center stage, with Edmund at her heels.

"No." Lucy said, in her somewhat high-pitched voice, acting like she was annoyed.

Edmund read off of his script, in his nasal, geeky voice, "But, Georgie…"

"The library's closed." Lucy said, now reaching the 'desk' that was only a small tea table for the moment.

A bit incredulous at his next line, Edmund's voice cracked, somewhat adding to the effect of his character, "Good." He did as he was told with the blocking, and grabbed Lucy's waste, spinning her around against the tea table.

Lucy jumped up to seat herself on the tea table; she hid her face behind Edmund, wrapping her arms around his neck.

Peter had just stepped onto the stage, when Mr. Tumnus interrupted, "Lucy and Edmund, you need to keep in mind what's going on in this scene. Edmund, you're supposed to be trying to convince her to bang." Several students looked at each other in shock of their teacher's language, "And Lucy, you're supposed to be enjoying it, but playing hard to get. Do it over, guys."


	5. Chapter 5

**A/N: I had fun writing Lasaralaeen in this chapter! Also, I love making the guys completely clueless. 'Tis fun. **

**Chapter 5 **

Weeks passed as the cast for 'Spare Room' got closer and closer. It soon became a regular thing for Peter to help Lucy with her algebra before practice, and after homework they would talk about different things, happy that they had found a friend in each other.

Lucy and Edmund also had a regular thing of hanging around each other after rehearsal was over, they would get coffee or even just walk the long way back to their dormitories. It wasn't the Lucy was unobservant, but she was the only one that didn't see why Edmund walked back with her every day.

By that point in the production, most of the cast got to know each other extremely well and was able to call most of the other cast members friends. Some that had just met had begun to spend time after class together outside of the auditorium.

Susan was the only one of the main cast that kept to herself most of the time. It wasn't that no one made gestures of friendship towards her; most of the boys did at least. Still, whenever they tried to put their hands out towards her for friendship—or anything else, she would just respond with "I prefer to be left alone."

The only two people that she didn't act like that around was Peter and Caspian. Still, Peter wondered if she didn't like him. He text messaged her several times, and he even called once or twice, in case she didn't have texting on her mobile. Still, she never messaged or called back, that seemed to be a giant billboard for 'I'm not interested' and yet, when face to face with him, she clearly seemed interested. Acting the charade extremely well, smiling most of the time, and even twisting a lock of hair around her finger.

He had asked Caspian if he had ever called Susan before, and if she responded, his roommate's answer was yes, he had called before, and no, she hadn't answered before.

Quite frankly, it was confusing. If Susan liked him as much as she seemed to, why wasn't she returning his calls?

* * *

The morning sun peaked over the horizon of a lovely looking Saturday morning; some students remained in bed, sleeping late into the day, while others were getting their breakfasts in the cafeteria, and still others were already at their jobs, getting an early start for the weekend.

Lucy and Marjorie walked down the outside eating area, breakfast trays in each of their hands. They were in the middle of a lengthy conversation about the latest Johnny Depp film when Marjorie murmured, "Oh, no."

"What is it?" Lucy asked, looking over to where her friend's green eyes were staring, seeing where Marjorie's eyes were she mumbled, "Oh."

Sitting next to Aravis, was none other than Lasaralaeen. Neither Lucy nor Marjorie really liked Lasaralaeen all that much. She was never a good conversationalist, always wanting to talk about clothes, makeup, boys, or any other type of gossip. Still, she and Aravis were young childhood playmates and they seemed to have some sort of bond of old friendship keeping them together, despite them being complete polar opposites.

"Do you think Aravis would kill us if we don't sit with her?" Marjorie asked, almost whispering, as if their other roommate could hear.

Lucy cast a look back to the table where Aravis and Lasaralaeen were sitting; she noticed how Aravis seemed bored, leaning on her fist that rested on the temple of her head. "Probably not…but she'd be angry. Besides, I don't see anywhere else to sit."

"What about over by Anne?" Marjorie gestured over to a table where a girl by the name of Anne Feathertone was sitting and eating her breakfast.

Lucy's stomach flopped; it wasn't a great secret that Anne disliked her. Never saying that directly to her face, the way that she always addressed Lucy last, if at all, and always spent all of her time talking to Marjorie. "We shouldn't leave Aravis."

Rather reluctantly, both girls walked up to the table, and caught the end of the conversation. Lasaralaeen whined, "Why do we even have to go to school?"

Aravis seemed half asleep, leaning in on her fist she mumbled in a monotone voice, "Because it's the law."

Lasaralaeen giggled, not really taking notice of neither Lucy nor Marjorie, who were sitting side by side on the other side of Aravis, "Right. 'Cause if we, like, don't it's considered…umm…" she paused, trying to think of the word, "treachery…or… treason…or…uh… taxonomy or something."

Lucy raised her eyebrows in pure shock of anyone being thick enough to think taxonomy has anything to do with school. Marjorie sucked in her cheeks to try and stop from smiling.

Aravis grumbled, still barely awake, "Don't you mean truancy?"

"That too." Lasaralaeen giggled again, "Oh my god, Aravis! Did I tell you about the time I was out on that date with that one guy…I don't remember his name, but when we started kissing, his tongue was…like…darting in and out of my mouth! It was totally disgusting! And I thought seventeen-year-olds are supposed to know how to kiss."

Aravis closed her eyes in an 'I really didn't want to hear that' manner, when Lasaralaeen gasped, "Oh my gosh! Is that Ivy? I haven't seen her in ages! I need to tell her about what Maggie did last week! See you, Aravis!" she stood up, blowing a kiss to Aravis, "Oh, hi Luce and Mar!" she said before running after the other girl.

Marjorie stabbed her waffle with a fork, "Must she call me Mar? I know it's better than Marj, but still."

"You can ask her to stop," Aravis suggested, "but I have to admit, it was a lot of stuff to listen to before my morning coffee." She then grabbed her Styrofoam cup and drained it, before pulling back.

"Burnt tongue?" Lucy asked, spooning some scrambled eggs into her mouth, then offered her friend some of her apple juice.

"No, thanks." Aravis replied, "I don't mind a burnt tongue, it's not the worst pain ever." She finished with an uncomfortable look on her face, as she tightened the sleeve around her left wrist with her right hand.

"You're the only person who would say that, aren't you?" A lower voice sounded from behind Aravis, taking the empty seat next to her where Lasaralaeen had been sitting, revealing a boy named Cor.

He and Aravis were "friends" if you really thought about it, although they constantly argued, and seemed to loathe each other, they did spend far too much time texting on their mobiles to allow people to think that they did hate each other.

"Shaddup, Shasta." Aravis said, pushing him lightly. The nickname had a long, confusing—and not too interesting story behind it.

All three of the girls turned in their seats to see two other familiar boys strategically placed behind them, Edmund was behind Lucy and had taken a pinch of her eggs off of her tray. When she protested, he pulled out her chair and sat in her lap. "Get off!" Lucy protested further, but she was laughing, lightly shoving him.

Cor's younger brother Corin was behind Marjorie and had lightly smacked her forehead, resulting in her rubbing her forehead, "Ouch." She mumbled, but she, too, was smiling.

Cor had pulled up his own chair beside Marjorie, and they watched as Lucy continued trying to push Edmund off of her lap.

Without realizing it, they had made a little bit of a scene, pushing and pulling each other off of the chair, trying to be the one to end up in it.

Eventually, Edmund ended up in the chair, with Lucy on his lap. "Why can't you just pull up your own chair?" Lucy asked, spooning a second bit of eggs into her mouth.

"What fun would that be?" Edmund asked, sending a toothy grin to the girl sitting on his legs, jolting them upward, she bounced on his knees.

She let out a small windy laugh from the back of her throat, "Loads."

"You know you two look like you're dating, right?" Corin said, swiping a piece of sausage from Marjorie's tray.

After flushing a bright pink, both Edmund and Lucy sacrificed the chair, resulting in the other four teenagers laughing. "It's not funny!" they both protested, still fairly pink.

* * *

Because the main cast for 'Spare Room' did such a great job memorizing their lines, and with the left over money from the last play, Mr. Tumnus rented a bus and was taking them (as well as several extras and stage crew members) to an amusement park for that Saturday.

Gathering on the large rental bus, before the sun came up, was the majority of the drama department, some were still waking up, and brought pillows to sleep on the ride, still, others were already buzzed out on coffee and couldn't wait to get there already.

Peter sat in the back, next to Caspian. They were going on about their dorm advisor and how he never noticed anything that anyone ever did when Susan took the seat behind them.

Stopping the conversation, Caspian turned to face Susan, "Hey, you wanna sit next to Peter?"

Susan, smiling inwardly, said, "Sure…if you don't mind giving up your seat?"

"Not a problem at all," Caspian stood up, smiling, saying before he left, "Besides, there's a blonde girl up there that looks like she could use some Caspian-flare."

"Was he joking?" Susan asked, taking the seat next to Peter.

"With Caspian, you never can tell." Peter said, "So, did you get my messages?"

Susan lowered an eyebrow, awkwardly she said, "Sorry. I don't really check my messages. Give me your mobile number so I can set a ring tone for you, I'll pick up when you call from now on."

* * *

Lucy sat towards the center of the bus, alone in her seat, listening to her ipod. Marjorie wasn't going on the trip because she had finals to study for.

Without hearing a word, Lucy felt someone sit down next to her. Turning to see who sat next to her, she saw that it was only Edmund. They said their hellos.

"Nice weather, huh?" Edmund asked, pointing out the window, more than a little distracted that Lucy was wearing a tank top.

"Yeah, it should be a fun day…hey, did you bring sunscreen?"

Edmund pulled a small tube of sunscreen out of his shorts pockets, "Yeah…why?"

Lucy shrugged, "I just don't like carrying a purse, I could only bring what I could carry and I'm running out of pockets between my phone, ipod, and wallet."

Smiling cheekily, Edmund opened the tube of sunscreen and smeared it along Lucy's pale arm. "Here you go." He said, watching her rub the sunscreen into her arm.

He loved being around the redheaded girl, she was fun to be around, a great listener, forgiving—even to the point of it getting annoying, caring, and sincere. She wasn't that hard on the eyes either.

He wished that she felt the same way about him that he felt about her. He wanted her to get butterflies in her stomach when she saw him. He really liked her, heck; he joined the bleeding drama club for her. And, if it came down to it, he'd even watch _The Notebook _if Lucy wanted him to. Not that she watched those kinds of movies, but still.

He had an on-going pact with himself that he'd make Lucy like him like that. So far, he had only gotten far enough for them to be great friends. How would he go about doing that? What made girls fall for guys, anyway? It was all very confusing.

"So, what do you have planned for today?" Lucy brought Edmund back to England from his own little world.

"Well, I think Mr. Tumnus is going to make us use the buddy system, so most of that depends on who's going to be my buddy for the day. Besides that, I wanna try nearly everything."

Lucy smiled, "Hey, want to be my 'buddy' for the day?"

A wave of relief washed over Edmund, as he agreed to it. He was worried that he'd have to ask Lucy to hang out with him all day, which would count under the pressure of actually 'asking her out' which he had tried to do a large number of times before giving up.

The bus rolled along, and the students talked loudly and happily as the sun peaked from the horizon and moved higher and higher in the sky, when Mr. Tumnus stood up in the middle of the bus, "Okay guys, I'm not going to chaperone you all day. So, please pick someone from this bus to hang around with all day. When you get in the gates, you'll see a big lamppost, you can't miss it, that's where were going to meet at five o'clock this afternoon. That will give you all seven hours of free time before we have to get on the road."

They only drove on for a few minutes at most after that, before a large gate appeared, tall roller coasters peaked high above them. In the front of the high walls read a sign that said, "Narnia" in boldfaced, red letters.

Lucy had leaned over Edmund's body to peer out of the window, "Look at that. It's amazing." She said, staring out the window.

"I am," Edmund said, looking at Lucy rather than out the window, "and believe me, it is."


End file.
